We ensure young children get the best start in life by supporting and regulating the early childhood education and care sector. We are the largest provider of public education in Australia with responsibility for delivering high-quality public education to two-thirds of the NSW student population.

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Sector development program

The sector development program supports the early childhood education workforce by offering free training, support and resources to build the capacity of services in line with NSW priorities.

The sector development program benefits the early childhood education sector by assisting services to provide programs which support staff development and to enhance their capabilities. The program includes providing new reference and training materials, guidance on the 600 hour business operating model, and how to develop inclusive practices that support the diverse needs of children.

Current programs:

Professional development opportunities

Based on feedback from the sector, five training courses are available free of charge to staff from approved eligible services, with a focus on the following topic areas:

Assessment and Rating (available to all children's education and care service types)

This program provides a professional learning opportunity on the National Quality Framework (NQF): Assessment and Ratings. The session aims to enable all education and care services to:

better understand and prepare for assessment and rating visits

communicate what assessment and rating involves for staff

communicate assessment and rating to families

access and use available resources on assessment and ratings

Completing the Assessment and Rating session will contribute to 6 hours of NESA endorsed training.

For more information and to register to attend, please visit the CELA website.

Learning through Play (available to all children’s education and care service types)

This program delivers professional development training to provide early childhood educators with strategies to foster children’s social, communication and cognitive skills through play. The training will explore the benefits of play-based environments, looking at practical, inspiring strategies to foster curiosity, creativity, imagination and problem solving skills with young children. Participants will gain a greater understanding behind the complexities of developing children’s language, cognitive and social behaviours and reflect on how to embed learning through play concepts into their practice and programming.

Completing Learning through Play training will contribute to 5 hours of NESA endorsed training if attending the two part webinar series or, 6 hours if attending the full day face to face training session.

For more information and to register to attend, please visit the ECTARC website.

Understanding and responding to challenging behaviour: strategies to support children who have experienced trauma (available to all early childhood education service types)

Educators often work with children with extreme behaviours that appear to have no apparent trigger. Often these children don’t respond to traditional behaviour management techniques because they might be the result of the neurobiological impact of a child’s exposure to trauma. During this workshop participants will learn about recent research which reveals the root cause and meaning of these challenging behaviours. They will also discuss strategies which help children develop the cognitive, social and emotional skills required to behave in ways which are functional for them, their peers and the learning environment.

Completing Understanding and responding to challenging behaviour: strategies to support children who have experienced trauma will contribute to 5 hours of NESA endorsed training.

For more information and to register to attend, please visit the KU website.

Leadership Development (available to all early childhood education service types)

This program provides leadership development training to managers and directors of early childhood education services, including team building, and strategies for improving communication and reducing conflict within teams.

The training program consists of a series of events including face-to-face tutorials and workshops, web conferences, and telephone coaching and mentoring. The full day face-to-face sessions include the NESA registered “Communications and Effective Teams” training for teachers that will contribute 3 hours to accreditation.

Participants will engage in collective learning facilitated by CCSA staff with specialised knowledge, experience and expertise in preschool operation and professional practice. Coaching and mentoring support will then be available to participants in relation to improving leadership, communication and conflict in their own preschool, and embedding improvements in the service.

A range of resources including checklists, templates and other tools will be provided.

For more information and to register to attend, please visit the CCSA website.

Financial Systems and Processes (available to community preschools including mobile preschools)

This program delivers support and resources to community preschools in financial systems and processes including bookkeeping, budgeting, accounts and payroll. This training takes a broad approach, and is suitable for members of management committees, directors, and administration staff with responsibility for financial management and processing.

A workshop covering key financial processes in an early childhood context will include a self-audit of existing systems and processes. A series of webinars will provide in-depth information expanding on the concepts presented in the workshops. Online support will be available from CCSA’s experienced BAS Agents to assist participants integrate improved financial systems and processes in their preschool.

Participants will be provided with a range of resources including a self-audit tool, checklists, calculators, templates and other tools.

For more information and to register to attend, please visit the CCSA website.

Start Strong Community Safety Net

The Community Safety program will provide a mechanism to establish early childhood education programs in very remote regions of NSW currently without access to early education.

Bicultural Support program (available to community preschools including mobile preschools)

The Bicultural Support program has been developed to support community preschools to assist with the inclusion of children from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD), refugee or Aboriginal backgrounds. The program is delivered by the Ethnic Community Services Co-operative.

The program is designed to offer language and cultural assistance to children, families and educators, to support inclusive cultural practice in preschools. A nominated support worker attends the preschool where support is requested and works with the child, family and educators to help the child settle in. Twenty hours of Bicultural Support is available to help a child settle in to the preschool.

The program is designed to assist preschools by raising awareness of cultural practices, ensuring better communication between children, families, educators and early childhood services and supporting children in their transition to school.

Applications: To apply for Bicultural Support, preschools should please contact the Ethnic Community Services Co-operative:

NSW Department of Education

Copyright, privacy and accessibility

This information is current as at 15/09/2019 07:57pm, AEST. For the most up-to-date information, go to https://education.nsw.gov.au/student-wellbeing/health-and-physical-care/health-care-procedures/allergies.